[Pharmacological correction of experimental alcoholic embryopathy]

In the experiments on the progeny of ethanol-exposed rats it was shown that consumption of 15% alcohol instead of water during pregnancy resulted in the worsening of shuttlebox avoidance learning and decrease in succinate dehydrogenase activity in the visual and sensorimotor cortex. These data are indicative of cerebral hypoxia during embryogenesis. The injection of synthetic opioid peptide dalargin during critical periods of development (at the end of embryogenesis and early ontogeny) prevented partially the disturbances of higher nervous activity and tissue breathing which were induced by alcohol intoxication. Possible mechanisms of positive dalargin effect are discussed.